Monday, December 17, 2018

Three Ideas To Inspire Your Writing During The Holidays and Christmas Wishes

At certain times of the year, it can be more of a challenge to get into a productive frame of mind. Here are three tips to keep you on top of your writing during the holidays.
  
Travel as fodder for sparkling settings
Whether you are driving or boarding a flight to a holiday destination, there are hundreds of ideas to help with the setting of your story. Tap into your surroundings, engage your senses and always have a notebook ready.
 
Use family relationships for character development and dynamic scenes
During the festive season, unresolved family disagreements flare up. Use the opportunity to play the role of keen observer of both the verbal and non-verbal aspects. Complicated relationships in families is great fodder for a story and dinner table conversation can yield interesting information.
 
A Twist On Morning Relaxation
If the opportunity arises, make mention of your desire to 'sleep in' so as not to be disturbed. Then put in an hour or two of solid work in the privacy of your room, before you appear at the morning table.

Hopefully, you'll find time to write over the holidays and if not, indulge in some reading.
And most of all, find peace and joy in the season.
And believe.
Believe 2019 will be great.
 
"May you have warmth in your igloo, oil in your lamp, and peace in your heart." Eskimo Proverb


The IWSG Administrators would like to thank you for your support. We wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We will see you again on January 2nd for IWSG post day when we announce the winners of the 2018 IWSG Anthology Contest.
 

Monday, December 10, 2018

Guest Nicola Morgan: Five Things to Know about Being Published

Photo © Rebecca Morgan
For clarity, by “being published” I mean by a trade publisher. That is one who takes on all the cost and financial risk and aims to make a profit by actively selling your book. In trade publishing, the author is asked for NO MONEY AT ANY STAGE and it is the publisher’s duty to market and sell the book. Authors do also join in promotional activities (see Point 4), may choose to buy extra items such as postcards and are expected to do a couple of unpaid events (always expenses-paid) but no financial input is ever requested.

However, four out of my five points also apply to self-publishing. I’ve done both and have had good and bad experiences of each, but I strongly prefer being published by a trade publisher, with a good publisher taking a big cut for doing a fantastic job, covering the costs and, crucially, selling so that I can devote my energies to writing.

Here are five things to know about being published.
    
There is no typical story of being published and no right way

Each author has a different experience, or even many different experiences, as the more books we write the more possibilities there are for successes and frustrations. We may have more than one publisher and write more than one type of book. One of the mistakes inexperienced (and some experienced authors) make is to hear a few stories that fit their beliefs and believe that reflects normality.

You hear things such as, “You need to know someone in the industry, otherwise you don’t stand a chance.” “Most authors are disappointed in their publishers.” “Publishers do nothing but keep almost all the money.” “Authors have no say in their cover design.” “Publishers don’t use editors/copy-editors/proof-readers nowadays.” “Authors have no control.”

Every one of the above a) is inaccurate but b) sometimes happens.

All books are different, all authors are different, all publishers are different, all genres are different, and the book fairy is wholly unreliable. You can do everything the same and still get a different result. This is more art than science and long may that remain true.

Every “successful” author is hiding failure and disappointment

We are all invisibly bruised and scarred. All bar none. We’ve had rejections and continue to get them, usually secretly. You’ll hear that so-and-so-superstar had umptymillion rejections in the past but you won’t hear the current failures, the times they were overlooked for an award, given a bad review, not invited to a festival, undermined in some painful way on Amazon or in a bookshop. To tell those stories publicly either undermines our own career or someone else’s, so we suck it up and moan in private.

The problem is that lots of you will be going round thinking everything is rosy on this side of the fence, to mix two metaphors. Sometimes it is: I’m in a rosy period. But I know that ups precede downs and it may be ages before I win another award or have some other esteem-boosting experience.

I know massively best-selling authors who have angsted and lost sleep over sales figures dipping from the previous stellar ones, their editor sending back their manuscript with huge changes requested, not being shortlisted for prizes, fearing that they won’t get another contract; and not getting another contract. Twitter and Facebook are shouty with successes and prizes and every success or prize for one author can trigger angst and fear for hundreds more.

OK, so being self-published avoids the stress about contracts, but s-pubbing has its own stresses and failures, believe me. We all need thicker skins than we have; we all have to strive for success.

A successful book does not mean a better writer

Forgive this value judgement about “good” or “bad” books but let’s face it: shit often sells and diamonds are easily lost between floorboards. Being successful as an author doesn’t mean writing a brilliant book (though I hope we’re all trying to do that). It means writing the right book, at the right time and having it published by the right publisher at the right time and in the right way and reaching the right readers. And the book fairy not having stomach-ache.

Good publishing is a partnership based on mutual respect

The times when I’ve had the best publishing experiences – like now – have been when there’s brilliant two-way communication between me and my publisher. This works best when it works in the old-fashioned way of the editor being your conduit to everyone else, or at least always copied in. My publishers consult me about everything, including the cover. They respect what I say (or seem to!) and I respect what they say. It’s a genuine team effort. And my latest book, Positively Teenage, was reprinted several times before publication, because of all that and because the book fairy didn’t have stomach-ache.

Every story I know of dissatisfaction has come about when that mutual respect has been eroded. When a publisher forgets who actually wrote the book or forgets what publishers are supposed to do or the author forgets about the vagaries of book fairy stomach-aches and expects too much too fast.

The happy published writer is knowledgeable; hard-working; realistic and more

Knowledgeable: we all start not knowing how much we don’t know and we gradually learn more and more. Always keep learning.

Hard-working: it doesn’t necessarily get easier. But things that are worth doing aren’t easy. Where would the sense of achievement be if it were easy?

Realistic: book fairies…

But the happy published writer is one thing above all else: a writer. Our job as authors is to be writers first. Write the books we set out to write in the best way we can. Don’t get caught up on measuring success or counting contracts or prizes or sales figures or rejection emails: keep writing.

Copyright © 2018 Nicola Morgan
Photo © Rebecca Morgan
Nicola Morgan is a multi-awarding-winning author of over 100 books of fiction and non-fiction, including Write to be Published, and the self-published ebooks Write a Great Synopsis and Dear Agent. Most recently, she won the School Library Association’s Outstanding Contribution to Information Books. She is mainly published by Hachette, Walker Books and HarperCollins. Her feisty advice to writers earned her the nickname Crabbit Old Bat, via the blog Help! I Need a Publisher! www.nicolamorgan.com

Wednesday, December 5, 2018

IWSG Day December 2018

It's time for another group posting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Time to release our fears to the world - or offer encouragement to those who are feeling neurotic. If you'd like to join us, click on the tab above and sign up. We post the first Wednesday of every month. I encourage everyone to visit at least a dozen new blogs and leave a comment. Your words might be the encouragement someone needs.

The awesome co-hosts for the December 5 posting are:

This month's optional question is: What are five objects we'd find in your writing space?

Our Twitter is @TheIWSG and hashtag #IWSG.

We got so many phenomenal entries for the anthology contest. Look for the announcement of the official Table of Contents in January!

Don't forget, the next Twitter pitch event is in January! It's a great way to get noticed by editors and agents.


This month's WEP theme is Ribbons and Candles. You can sign up now, and even get your post up early, as some are doing due to the holidays. We can't wait to see what you create!


If you've got Instagram, you can participate in our daily questions. Here's December:

For those on Goodreads, we have a book club. For great books and discussion, check it out!

The December/January selection is Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert. The discussion begins January 23.


Those who participated in NaNoWriMo are hopefully breathing a big sigh of relief right about now. Even if you didn't complete the full 50,000, any words down "on paper" are worthwhile!

How did you do for NaNo? Did you reach your goals? Have you read Big Magic, or will you be doing so for the book club? Will you be doing WEP? Have you tried out the daily Instagram prompts? Will you be doing the Twitter Pitch?